By Brad Marek, PGA with Don Jozwiak
The majority of my coaching business is working with competitive junior golfers, most of whom have aspirations to play college golf and reach the next level of the game. I’m trying to teach them how to shoot the lowest number and optimize their scoring opportunities – and avoid making big numbers. The best way I’ve found to do that is to get them on the course and put them in some uncomfortable scenarios, so they learn to recover from a bad shot and leave themselves in a position to save par or at least not make worse than bogey.
As a coach, it helps that I have credibility as a former college player who still competes at a high level, having played in two PGA Championships – including a made cut in 2021 – with a pair of top-10s at the PGA Professional Championship. It also helps that students really respond to on-course lessons, where I can get a better insight into their thought process and talk them through course management and their mental process. I’ll ask them a lot of questions and put them in different situations, then they’re ready when they find themselves facing something similar in competition.
It sets me apart as a PGA of America Coach to take my players out on the course for lessons. And when they play well, that leads to more interest from other competitive juniors – making them better players helps better my reputation and my business.
